


Puddin' Cup Boy

by shiptoomuch



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Idiots, M/M, Mention of Derek Nurse/Eric Bittle, dumb nicknames, plot relevant creme brulee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 19:52:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/pseuds/shiptoomuch
Summary: So, Kent ate an inordinate number of diet pudding cups…once. One time! But of course, all it takes is one time of giving into your weakness when there’s a sale because the expiration date is coming up. All it takes is that one time, and Kent gets a nickname that he’d really rather not have.





	Puddin' Cup Boy

**Author's Note:**

> I never edit anything. Someone on tumblr told me I should write this. Based on this tumblr post:
> 
> http://fabbittle.tumblr.com/post/183768728376/imagine-your-otp

So Kent ate an inordinate number of diet pudding cups…once. One time! But of course, all it takes is one time of giving into your weakness when there’s a sale because the expiration date is coming up. All it takes is that one time, and Kent gets a nickname that he’d really rather not have. 

(“You ate thirty-five?” Bitty had practically shrieked, staring at the carnage and grabbing a napkin to dab at Kent’s chocolatey toddler face. “What is _wrong_ with you?”

“So much.”

“Yeah, alright, Puddin’ cup boy.”)

At least, Kent tells Bitty that he hates it, but exactly nobody is buying it. The fact is that every time Bitty calls him some variation of it, he does so with a smile firmly affixed. It’s been five years, and his mom has called him Pudding Cup Boy on several occasions.

Bitty himself rarely uses the full name. After five years, it’s a mouthful, and he’s shortened it to just Puddin’ most of the time, still saying it with that little smile, and still eliciting a tiny half-hearted grumble from Kent. The only thing about the shortening that’s different is that sometimes people ask them how long they’ve been dating.

Which is…whatever. It’s whatever. It’s not something Kent like’s to spend a lot of time thinking about, is all. Bitty is his best friend. They’ve known each other since they both moved into the building on the same day and Kent managed to break all of his dishes in one go. 

(“How on earth did you manage that?”

“Uh…got distracted?” Kent had winced and kicked at a shard of what was once an ikea plate.

A shrewd look from Bitty. “Something tells me that’s going to be a theme with you.”

Kent had almost asked him out that day, but then Bitty’s then-boyfriend walked up and Kent is glad that he didn’t. Really, he’s glad.)

“Puddin’ have you seen my lilac tie?” Bitty walks into Kent’s apartment without knocking because that would be weirder than anything. 

“Uh, no.”

Bitty sighs and puts his hands on his hips, planting himself firmly between Kent and the TV. “Fine, let me rephrase: Kent, I lent you that tie three months ago and have not seen it since. Where is it?”

“Uh.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, what did I do to deserve this?” Bitty says to no one in particular as he saunters off towards Kent’s bedroom. He’s in jeans that make his legs look approximately eight miles long and a light grey gingham shirt that’s hanging open leaving his torso on display. Kent watches him go and makes a note to himself that he should hit up grindr tonight because it has clearly been too long. He gets up and follows his best friend.

“Got a date tonight?”

Bitty nods while he digs through Kent’s (almost too organized) closet looking for his tie. “Yeah, with that guy who does lit crit for the paper, Derek?”

Kent hums and nods. He’s very familiar with everyone who works with Bitty at the paper where he’s a food critic. Derek is the beat reporter for the Schooners and Bitty’s most recent in a long string of thirst-crushes. “Where are you taking him?”

“Well, he’s a literature snob, so I figured Byron? That place with the earl grey martini and the-“

“Best baked brie you’ve ever had,” Kent finishes with a smile. Bitty brings him along on a lot of his work meals. Bitty rolls his eyes at him.

“Yes, well, Derek’s never been, since he just moved up here from LA. I figured I’d show him.” Bitty keeps his voice light and casual while he buries his face further into the closet. 

Now it’s Kent’s turn to roll his eyes. Byron is cozy and decadent and romantic as fuck. Bitty himself said that he would love to bring a date there for “ultimate fucking potential” when he was on his second martini. 

(Bitty is a lightweight, not that Kent is ever allowed to mention it.)

“Is this my waistcoat?” Bitty asks, pulling the garment in question out of the closet and knocking over a pile on the way. It is, in fact, his, and he slips it over his shoulders before buttoning his shirt up and adjusting the waistcoat to make him look almost cinched. “What do you think? Should I roll up the sleeves?”

Kent tilts his head to the side like he’s thinking hard about it before nodding and stepping forward. “Yes, but you always do it wrong. Let me.”

Bitty huffs. “Puddin’. Nobody notices the difference.”

“I do.”

“Like I said, nobody.”

Kent eyes him. “Haha. Very funny. But this Derek sounds like a real fancy guy, so I think he’ll appreciate the difference.” 

“I suppose you’re right.” Bitty turns to look in Kent’s full length mirror, takes a step back to see better and almost presses himself up against the other man before Kent can think to move. He cocks his hip to the side and runs his fingers through his hair with the other. “What do you think?”

“You look great,” Kent says honestly, “but I thought you were going to wear the tie?”

“You don’t think it would be too much?”

Kent shakes his head. “For Byron? Nah.”

“Well I couldn’t find it in your closet.”

“That’s because I don’t keep my ties in there,” Kent says with a grin. While Bitty squawks indignantly about Kent letting him look for so long, he pulls open the drawer with ties and clips and cufflinks (finance guys gotta stay sharp) and fishes out the lavender bowtie. “Here.”

“So you did know where it was,” Bitty grumbles while Kent ties it for him. 

“I like it.”

“You never wear bowties.” 

“I do! And I look hot in them.” Kent tucks his tongue between his teeth and finishes up the knot. “There.”

Bitty swats at his chest. “Thanks, Puddin.”

Kent laughs out of his nose and smacks Bitty on the ass. “Anytime. Now, get the fuck out of here and go get into Derek’s pants.”

Bitty does as he’s told, shooting finger guns at Kent and sauntering with a little bounce in his step as he walks away. “See ya, puddin’. I’ll text you if I need anything.”

“I’ll be here.”

-

Bitty doesn’t text him during the date, which Kent takes to be a good sign. He swipes through tinder half-heartedly, and swaps nudes with a couple of guys, but can’t get enough into it to do anything about it. 

Whatever. At least he’s helping them have a good time. There’s an ANTM marathon on, anyways.

Kent shifts wrong and Kit gets spooked and hooks him with a claw in the thigh two episodes in, so he groans and picks himself up from the couch to get the first aid kit when he hears a timid knock on his door. 

He checks his watch. Eleven pm. There is nobody that Kent could even come up with who could be knocking on his door. He shuffles over and looks through the peephole to find a familiar head of blond hair and big brown eyes. 

“Bitty?” Kent opens the door and lets Bitty push past him to come in. “Why did you knock?”

Bitty holds out a carryout container. “I had them pack up a crème brûlée for you.”

“Thanks. What’s wrong?”

“They put passionfruit in it, and it’s so good, I thought you just have to try it. It’s surprising and so smooth and good. You’re going to love it.” With that, Bitty tries to turn on his heel and walk out of the apartment like he’s seen a ghost. Kent catches him by the arm. 

“Bits what’s wrong?”

Bitty just looks up at him with baleful eyes and a half smile on those plush pink lips. “Oh, you’re too sweet, Kent.”

 _“What’s wrong?_ Was Derek an asshole? I can beat the shit out of him if you need.”

Bitty laughs, bright as lemon juice on fresh schnitzel, but he still looks sad. “No, he was a perfect gentleman and I think we’re going to be really good friends.”

“So why do you look like Kit just stepped in your blueberry crumble?” 

Bitty looks down and fumbles with his bowtie. “Oh, well, just something he said. It’s silly, really. I got myself all worked up on the way home, though.”

“What did he say?” Kent leads them over to sit on the couch. Kit leaps into Bitty’s lap like she always does, and he digs his fingers into her fur like he always does. 

Bitty studies Kent’s face and for a minute it seems like he’s going to run away, but then he sighs and hangs his head. “Well I ordered that dessert for you, and apparently I had been talking about you _a lot_ like I always do ‘cause you’re my best friend. And Derek said something about how nice it was to date a poly person who wasn’t afraid to talk about their other partners. He said he could tell I loved you a lot.”

Kent cannot breathe.

“And I corrected him! Right away, Puddin’, I swear,” Bitty rushes to say, “But he got this look on his face like he was sad for me and I realized…aw shit, Puddin’, I realized that I was sad about it too.”

Kent really cannot fucking breathe and it’s a problem because this would be the perfect moment to say something but he can’t get anything out. 

“So I went home, determined to tell you, but in the uber all I could think about is how you definitely don’t feel the same way. And that’s fine, really! It’s so…fine…I’ll just nurse my wounds and nothing will change. But that’s what’s got me all worked up, I guess.”

Of course the first thing that Kent can do when he gets his breath back is laugh. Not really a full laugh, but a definite giggle that he cannot keep inside. Kent laughs for most emotions, his therapist says it’s a defense mechanism and Bitty says he’s just an alien, so here Kent is, full of so many emotions and unable to stop laughing until he realizes that Bitty is looking at him completely horrified. 

“I can’t tell if you’re feelin’ somethin’ or just laughin’ at me.” Bitty’s accent always gets thicker when he’s upset and it shakes the laughter right out of Kent. 

“I’m feeling so much,” Kent says honestly. He reaches out and takes Bitty’s hands in his own. “So fucking much, Bits.”

“Oh?”

“I have spent years, literally years, wondering if this was just a brolationship or if it could ever be a real relationship, Bits. And you waltz in here with passionfruit crème brûlée crying like you could be anything less than the absolute love of my life? I’m feeling a hell of a lot.”

Bitty grins and squeezes Kent’s hands in his own. “Oh. Well, in that case.”

And, well, Bitty leaves his tie at Kent’s again.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments, i have low self esteem and no social life


End file.
